New London venue, The Playground Theatre has unveiled a first full autumn season featuring two world premiere productions and a Christmas revival of Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer’s musical Once Upon a Mattress.
Following a successful first year, the West London theatre will open its autumn Season with the world premiere of The Paradise Circus by influential American playwright and novelist James Purdy. Directed by The Playground’s co-artistic director Anthony Biggs, the production will run from 8 October until 3 November 2018 with a press night on 12 October.
The second production in the season will be the previously announced world premiere of Fanatical, a new musical which takes a fond luck at the sometimes bizarre and always off-beat world of sci-fi fandom.
Due to run from 7 November until 8 December, the musical which was written by Matt Board (Austentatious) and Reina Hardy (Glassheart), will feature a company that includes Stargate and Red Dwarf star Suanne Braun (Mamma Mia! Cabaret).
Directed by Shaun Kerryson, the story focuses on a group of sci-fi fans who gather for the first official convention to celebrate a cult TV show based on a reclusive writer’s comic-book story of the misfit crew of a space cargo ship.
Featuring music and lyrics by composer Board and a book by playwright Hardy, the show will be designed by PJ McEvoy with original dramaturgy by Lotte Wakeham, choreography by Anthony Whiteman and musical supervision by Jim Henson.
The final production will be a festive version of Once Upon a Mattress, the 1950s Broadway musical comedy inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale The Princess and The Pea.
With music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and a book by Jay Thompson, the production will be directed by Alex Pearson and Grace Wessels and will run from 18 December 2018 until 19 January 2019. The press night will be on 20 December.
Announcing the details of The Playground’s autumn shows, co-artistic director Biggs said: “We are thrilled to be announcing our first full season less than a year after opening The Playground. As the word has spread about this exciting and welcoming new neighbourhood theatre, audiences from all over London and beyond are beginning to seek us out.”
Angela Thomas
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.